Economic Development and Regeneration (Hansard, 22 June 1998)

§ Angela Eagle

[holding answer 18 June 1998]: The Government are determined to join with local government, the voluntary and private sectors and local communities in a concerted attack against the multiple causes of social and economic decline—unemployment, bad housing, crime, poor health and a degraded environment.

Regeneration policies will play a key part in this. The Government are therefore undertaking a comprehensive review of regeneration policies. A discussion paper on the future of regeneration—"The Way Forward"—has been produced as a result of this review.

Regional Development Agencies (RDAs): The White Paper on Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), "Building Partnerships for Prosperity" (Cm 3814), published on 3 December 1997, set out the Government's proposals for the creation of a new Regional Development Agency in each of the English Regions. The Regional Development Agencies Bill, which had its Third Reading on 1 April 1998, Official Report, columns 1366–85, will put in place the legislative framework for RDAs' work.

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RDAs will provide the means for ensuring effective, properly co-ordinated regional economic development. One of their first and most important tasks will be to draw up a regional economic strategy for their region. This will provide proper strategic direction to regional economic development work: regeneration, inward investment, business support, skills training and sustainable development.

RDAs will contribute towards the better coordination of regeneration programmes by bringing together English Partnerships, the Single Regeneration Budget Challenge Fund and the rural regeneration work of the Rural Development Commission. They will continue to work with local partnerships formed between local authorities, business and the voluntary sector.

Single Regeneration Budget (SRB): The Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) currently provides over £3.4 billion, in total, for the three years 1997–98 to 1999–2000.

Within the £3.4 billion SRB total, nearly £1.7 billion is currently allocated to some 550 partnership schemes under rounds 1 to 3 of the SRB Challenge Fund.

The balance of available SRB resources—over £1.7 billion over the 3-year period—is currently allocated to fund commitments under earlier programmes such as English Partnerships, UDCs, Housing Action Trusts, Estate Action, City Challenge etc. which all form part of the SRB.

The Government announced, on 30 March 1998, the names of the 121 successful Partnerships under Round 4 of the SRB Challenge Fund which stand to get over £300 million. Around £12 million will be available nationally for 1998–99.

Nearly all the 121 successful Round 4 schemes have multiple objectives, which include social exclusion, employment and training, education, community safety, prevention of drug misuse, health care and child care. Over half of the schemes include support for ethnic minorities as an explicit objective. This reflects local needs and priorities and the need to look across traditional boundaries in finding solutions.

The Round 4 schemes aim to attract private sector support of over £400 million and other public sector contributions, including European funding, of over £500 million over their lifetime of up to seven years. This investment will benefit over 600,000 school children, provide training for 86,000 people, provide jobs for over 50,000 target area residents and benefit over 3 million people from community safety initiatives.

During 1996–97 the SRB Challenge Fund supported schemes which attracted over £577 million of private sector leverage, created/preserved over 78,000 jobs and helped to start up over 16,000 businesses.

English Partnerships: NDPB delivering regeneration, economic development, job creation, environmental improvement and promoting inward investment through the reclamation and development of derelict, vacant and under-used land and buildings throughout England.

EP's Investment Fund provides a flexible means to tailor financial support for projects and enables EP to operate as a strategic partner and investor in regeneration. Their Community Investment Fund provides capital 364W grants of up to £100,000 to community based projects and enables local communities to participate more effectively in the regeneration of their neighbourhoods.

Fifty-six British Coal non-operational sites, covering some 6,000 acres, have been transferred to EP who are taking forward their regeneration, reclamation and development. EP have prepared a detailed investment plan including a development strategy for each site. Paula Hay-Plumb, Managing Director (Operations) at EP has been appointed by the Deputy Prime Minister to chair a Coalfields Task Force whose purpose is to identify and develop a specific programme of action to assist coal closure areas by pooling the expertise of government departments and other partners in regeneration.

EP own the Greenwich Peninsula and are responsible for providing a serviced site for the Millennium Experience. EP have developed a master plan for the long term regeneration of the site which would provide 5,000 homes and 335,300 jobs as well as commercial, leisure, retail, community and education facilities. A competition for the first stage of the development—the Millennium Village—was launched by the Deputy Prime Minister on 10 July 1997. Four shortlisted consortiums submitted their bids on early January 1998 and the winner will be announced shortly.

Housing Action Trusts (HATs): There are 6 Housing Action Trusts regenerating severely run down housing estates, including refurbishment/redevelopment, creation of jobs and training opportunities, and other improvements. HATs are planning their programmes on the basis of a total public spend of £1,095 million on all HATs to the end of their 10 year lifetimes.

Estate Action: aims to help local authorities improve unpopular housing estates. Funding is currently for commitments only on continuing schemes approved in 1994–95 or before.

There are also several other programmes which can help in the regeneration of deprived areas. These include:

The Special Grants Programme: a small but long standing programme (1997–98 budget £1.3 million) under which grants are given to voluntary organisations undertaking national projects relevant to the Department's policy objectives in housing and regeneration. Grant is generally limited to 3 years and to about half of each project's costs, the remainder coming from private and voluntary sector sources.

Local Investment Fund (LIF): established in 1994 with £1 million grant and £2 million private sector contribution. LIF provides loans on conventional terms to voluntary organisations for economically viable projects for which conventional finance cannot be raised (e.g. owing to lack of asset base, track record, etc.).

Groundwork: established in 1985 to tackle a range of environmental problems through partnership with the community and the private sector. DETR provides funding to the Groundwork Foundation and its 41 Trusts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (£6.675 million for 1997–98).

Environment Task Force: one of four options available under the New Deal for the young unemployed. It aims to enhance the long term employment prospects of 365W 18–24 year olds, unemployed and claiming JSA for 6 months or more, through a combination of high quality work experience and training leading to an approved qualification. The ETF will consist of projects which deliver sustainable environmental benefits in line with DETR's policies and objectives.

Thames Gateway: a major growth opportunity with strong European connections, reinforced by stations on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Thames Gateway Planning Framework (RPG9a) aims to maximise the area's potential and improve its image through environmental enhancement and quality development.

Inner City Religious Council: chaired by Ministers, the ICRC provides the main faith communities with a means of working together to tackle the problems facing inner cities and deprived areas. Its members are drawn from Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths. A review of the work of the ICRC has recently been carried out and its findings are being considered.

Local Authorities

Local authorities have a key role to play as catalysts for the economic development and regeneration of their areas. Under section 33 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 authorities have powers to promote the economic development of their area. We intend to strengthen their role further by placing a duty on local authorities to promote the economic, social and environmental well being of their area in partnership with other public, private and voluntary organisations, and with local people.